General Mokgware�s correct about the defence budget
Richard Moleofe | Friday February 12, 2016 12:28
I am challenged to write in line with what General Pius Mokgware’s persuasion is regarding this matter. While discussing the matter on Duma FM, he made it very clear that the defence budget is out of place for the needs of this nation. What this country needs now, is a “light and agile military.”
There are several security agencies in Botswana and that includes Prisons Department, Intelligence, the military as well as police. In allocating any budget, there needs to be a balanced budget for all these agencies. I am not trying to say that the defence cake should be equally divided into four quarters. But there is need to do a thorough need assessment in order to arrive at addressing the issue of proper allocation.
For many years, the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) has been made to feel more equal than the Prisons Department and Botswana Police Service. This was before the establishment of the Directorate of Intelligence Services (DISS)which took the mantle from BDF until tables turned this year. That’s a subject of discussion at some other point as Grant has noted in The Monitor newspaper.
What General Mokgware insists on is the fact that the proposed ministerial allocation of development budget does not come with any sufficient budgetary breakdowns. The level of arrogance that this government often displays is very much evident in the way the proposed budget appears. The fact that the statement on the document deliberately left out important information that would help the Members of Parliament to effectively debate the proposed budget is a clear indicator for a hidden agenda. “Provision of defence equipment, communication equipment, and infrastructure”, is an unnecessary blanket statement which takes us nowhere as a nation.
I have in the past noted in my column that our military needs to have a defined doctrine in order to function effectively. We are all aware that the most part of the Ministry’s budget is going to BDF, and this comes at a time when reasonable speculation has been taking rounds that the procurement of fighter jets is eminent. Otherwise, the state would be in a clear position to state what this amount is allocated for. Defence contracts are secretive by nature and they have become the breeding ground for corruption. The veil covering our current defence budget adds fuel to the fire of the grapevine that we are certainly going ahead with the purchase of the fighter jets. In fact this is not just taken from the grapevine. The media has credible information passed on to them by their colleagues from the very country where the jets are manufactured. Mokgware’s argument is in line with the security needs of this nation. He was appalled at the amount of money allocated for police training. A paltry P600,000 is what the police are getting for training in this financial year. For as long as our government chooses to have our security needs inside-out and upside-down, we are going to continuously feel unsafe in our homes and everywhere in the country.
The primary security needs of this nation according to Mokgware include; the building of accommodation to house the ministry’s personnel. His assertion is that the current budget would be sufficient to meet all the accommodation needs of all the four core departments that are charged with the security of this nation. For BDF to procure fighter jets when they are still struggling to provide for the primary needs of their troops is beyond shame for the generals to proceed with this purchase. It is stated that currently there are still several troops who have taken refuge in an abandoned kitchen.
In the past, several troops have stayed in tents for years as though they were Bedouin shepherds of the Arabian desert. In the past, there has been a noble effort by Lt Gen Masire when he was Commander to alleviate soldiers of all ranks from the acute accommodation shortage by engaging the services of Botswana Housing Corporation.
The problem of poaching still persists and as a country we need to rework our strategy and approach of dealing with this persistent problem. The current approach put us at loggerheads with our neighbours particularly the Namibians. Botswana needs more helicopters to put an end to poaching. The current strategy doesn’t seem to be bearing desirable fruits and it is time that the defence chiefs rethink a better way and approach to defeating poachers.
When taking a look at the defence budget of our powerful neighbour to the south, we come to realise a continued decline in defence spending in the last 15 years while ours was growing. In 2002 when it was at its peak, the defence budget stood at 1.6% of the GDP. That translated to US$ 4.2 billion. This was at the time of their defence transformation. The South Africans felt the need for replacing obsolete apartheid era military hardware. At the time, the opposition cried foul on this unreasonable defence expenditure. But like it is going to be the case in Botswana, the ruling party used its majority in parliament to shrug off their legitimate concerns.
The end result in the South African defence procurement programme has become a disgrace in that it became a foundation for organised corruption. The looters were ready to benefit from the deal.
This ended up in a long and winding investigation by appointed commissioners which doesn’t seem to have yielded any positive results. We are certainly heading in the same direction.